


A Whole New Universe

by Ren86



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Fobwatched Time Lord, MC hasn't seen the show though, POV First Person, Parallel Universes, Time Shenanigans, Universe where Doctor Who is a TV show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-02 12:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17264528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ren86/pseuds/Ren86
Summary: How was it possible that the Doctor was the only surviving Time Lord? How was it that he, and the Master, were the only ones on a massive planet with the foresight to evacuate, or to leave? Why were there no Superman-style rescues, children of the stars sent out into space in hopes of surviving a war to end all wars?The Doctor once said that before the war, traveling between dimensions was easy. Off you pop and you’re home before lunch. So where better to hide a child, hide the future of a race, than in a dimension not your own? Once the war was over, they could go back, rescue the child, return her home as if nothing had happened.But then the Time Lords lost, and Tracy was left in a world not her own.[Tags to be added as needed. Updates weekly.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! This is the story of an original Time Lord OC, Tracy Adams. These first few chapters will focus purely on Tracy, her life, her world, and having the deal with her entire world going sideways. The Doctor will show up eventually!

Shoving my hands into my cardigan pockets, I followed along behind my friends as they stumbled along the sidewalk, one turning around and walking backwards to talk to me. “Hey Trace! We’re gonna go hit up some bars, get totally smashed! You should come along! It’s the end of the semester, baby!” She cheers, throwing her hands up in the air and nearly falling over in the process.

“I told you guys, I don’t drink. I _can’t_ drink, what with my medication.” I stressed back, trying my best to hide my frown in the dark. They meant well, really they did, they just… didn’t understand. Could never understand, but they tried. Almost immediately I could see my friend flush in embarrassment.

“Oh shit, yeah, I forgot… Sorry! How ‘bout this: if you come be our DD, I’ll buy you all the shitty, cheesy bar food you want?” Heather hated it when I wasn’t included, and knew I got upset when they didn’t even make an effort to try and include me. The gesture warmed my heart, and my frown grew into a small smile.

“Thanks, guys, but I think I’m just going to head home. I’m tired and you know I’d just end up trying to bail. But, if you guys do end up needing a ride, just lemme know. You know I’ll be there as fast as I can.” I told them, reassuring them that my feelings wouldn’t be hurt. After all, I made this offer every time the topic came up, and they’ve yet to take me up on it.

Heather grinned, spinning around to walk properly now that she had an answer. “Thank, Trace! You head on home – I’ll call you later so we can set up a movie day or somethin’!” My other friends agreed, then with a wave, they began to speed up, jogging up to the parking lot. Stopping at the edge of the sidewalk, I watched them dart across the lot, weaving in and out of the pale lights that attempted to light up the darkness. After a moment of watching them, I turned with a sigh and began to walk off.

My apartment – excuse me, ‘flat’ – wasn’t much, but it was mine. It wasn’t far from the University, near downtown, and had a decent view. It wasn’t facing a brick wall, at least. So, about a half hour later, I exited the elevator and strode down the hall, unlocking the door and slipping inside. Turning on the light, I dropped the keys in the bowl near the door, slipped off my shoes and cardigan, and let out a loud sigh.

The apartment was small, but it was familiar. Had all my stuff moved overseas, and my parents even shipped over an old wardrobe they’d had in their room for years for extra storage. I told them I didn’t need it, that this wasn’t exactly the land of No-Closets, but they insisted. So I shoved it into the spare bedroom and haven’t touched it since. I should probably dust it at some point, but meh.

Shuffling into the kitchen, I filled the kettle with water and set it to boil. The stove was old, so it’d take a while, and I wandered off to get changed. Down the hall, off to my bedroom – wait. I paused, taking a step back. Was the spare bedroom door open? I never left doors open. Maybe the building was shifting? That happened back home, sometimes. Ground would shift, doors wouldn’t line up with the locks properly. I shrugged, ready to just forget about it, when I noticed something else.

As I got close to the door, to pull it closed, I saw a faint light coming from within. I… I didn’t leave any lights on. I don’t leave lights on. Unless it’s my bedroom and I’m coming right back. Narrowing my eyes in confusion, my brows furrowed as I tried to figure out what was going on. Pushing open the door, I could only stand and stare. The room was dark, nothing was touched. But… the wardrobe. From the wardrobe there was a soft yellow light coming through the cracks. _Weird._ I’d never messed with it, just shoved it in here and forgotten about it. Never did like the thing – it always set off this weird vibe. My parents thought I was nuts for thinking that, but I know what I felt. It felt wrong, somehow. And now it was glowing. Or close to it. I couldn’t even get any satisfaction from being right about the damn thing being weird, because it was _being weird in my damn apartment!_

Really, I should go get a weapon, or something. A stick, or one of the kitchen knives. But… I don’t feel afraid, staring at it. Weirded out, yeah, but not afraid. Again, weird.

So I inched closer to the thing, watching as the light inside seemed to… pulse. Yeah, pulse. And as I got closer, I could hear a faint sound, like a whirr, like the sound old computer made when they started up and shut down. I knew that I should probably, you know, back away from the thing. And call for help. But I couldn’t exactly call the police (‘yeah? Hey, my wardrobe is making funny sounds’ would go over real well), and my friends were all getting hammered in loud bars and wouldn’t hear their phones, much less be of any help.

So I was on my own.

Turning, I ran out of the room and found the nearest menacing object – a giant knife in my kitchen – and returned to the room. The light was still steadily pulsing inside the wardrobe, and it looked like nothing else had changed. I made a soft sound, sighing, before taking a deep breath and inching up to the wardrobe.

Tightening my grip on the knife handle with my left hand, I reached out to touch the wooden door. “It’s… warm. Why is it warm?” My first thought was maybe it was one fire, but it couldn’t be. There was no smoke, no real heat, just a gentle warmth. Like a warm bath, or laying out in the sun on a spring day. It would have been comforting, if I wasn’t still so weirded out by it. Another sigh. “Here we go then…” And I pulled on the door.

It didn’t move.

“What…?” I pulled again, still nothing. But there’s no lock on it… I jiggled the door back and forth, and suddenly as I was pushing in, it gave way. Flinging backwards, I found myself being pulled in with the force.

I landed on my face, the knife clattering off to the side uselessly. Groaning, I rolled onto my back, adjusting my glasses in the process. “Ow…” Blinking, I looked up,  expecting to maybe see the wood of the wardrobe, or the ceiling of the room.

At the top of the list of things I was _not_ expecting to see: metal, shiny and new. Confusion enveloped me, and I quickly scrambled up to look at what had just happened. I wasn’t in the bedroom anymore, I wasn’t even in the wardrobe!

“What kind of Narnia bullshit is this?” Metal, metal everywhere! An entire room of clean, shiny metal! And in the center, some kind of… round? No, some kind of… weird… shape. A desk? Or a console, maybe? It was something, whatever it was. Curious, I approached it, reaching out with cautious hands to touch it.

Again, it was warm. And… friendly? How could metal feel _friendly?!_ My hands jerked back, and I stumbled. There was a room! In my wardrobe! “I must be hallucinating. Maybe I took the wrong pills this morning, or, or- I don’t know.” My medication was for allergies and anxiety, but maybe? No, that kind of medication didn’t cause hallucinations!

Out of the corner of my eye, something glinted. Turning to look, I saw on the… pedestal thing… a little pocket watch. Like the kind older guys keep in vest pockets, or like the Victorians used. “Huh…” Unable to help myself, I picked it up, running my thumb over the strange, abstract pattern on it. “Kind pretty.” Maybe it was my dad’s? This was their wardrobe after all. Turning it over, I saw the other side was blank. Maybe there was something inside…?

“Kara! If you’re hearing this, it means you found the TARDIS!” I jumped, the watch clattering to the ground as a new voice suddenly spoke up. Spinning wildly, I quickly spotted the source – a little screen on the console. Two humans were standing there, women, waving at the screen.

“Oh honey, we knew you could do it!” The other spoke, smiling widely. “We’re sorry we had to leave you there… And we’re sure you have a lot of questions, honey.”

“How do we begin? If you haven’t opened the Fob yet, you probably won’t even believe us.” The first one began, adjusting her hair. She… she looked an awful lot like me, but not quite. The other was a red-head, but had the same color eyes as me. “We’re your parents, honey. And if you’re here, it means either we finally could come get you, or… well, or you grew up without us. And that you’re finally a mature adult – in human years, anyway – and the TARDIS called you home. We set her up to do that. So you could learn where you really came from.” The other, the red-head, nudged the first, and the pair moved away from the camera and sat down.

My mind was reeling. Parents?! I mean yeah I was adopted but still, _PARENTS?!_ That was impossible! How did my parents have a wardrobe with a room inside it that supposedly had a tape from my biological parents?!

Even as I was trying to process this, the tape continued. “We’re so so sorry we had to leave you there, in the awful place… There’s a war here, and everyone’s afraid. Afraid what it might mean for the rest of us. We didn’t want you to have to suffer through it, so we sent you through the Vortex, out past where we are and into another universe.”

“Darling she probably doesn’t even know what that means!”

“Oh, right. Okay. Sweetheart, Kara, you’re a Time Lord. That Fob Watch? The one you’ve had all your life?” What? I’ve never seen that thing before – had my parents kept it from me? Immediately I bent over and scooped it up. “It’s kept you hidden, kept you safe. You think your human, you grew up human, but you’re not. You’re a Time Lord! A Keeper of all Time and Space. And you’re still practically a baby. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see you now…”

“You’re getting off track, darling.”

“Oh, right! Yes, a Time Lord. We used the Chameleon Arch in that TARDIS you’re in to make you human. Open the watch and you’ll be back to normal! Go on honey. There’s more tapes stored here in the TARDIS, but to access them she’ll need to recognize you as Time Lord again.”

“We love you sweetheart. We’ll see you again soon.”

And the tape cut off.

I blinked.

Once, twice.

“ _What?”_ I’ve gone crazy. That’s what this. I’ve gone mad, bonkers, full on Mad Hatter. Time Lords? What in god’s name was a _Time Lord?_ A title? No, they spoke as if… as if they weren’t human.

“Aliens aren’t real!” I couldn’t believe I was even considering this. “I’m just tired, I have to be. Just over tired, and I’m seeing shit. I’m probably actually standing in the bedroom, staring at the wardrobe. Have to be.”

But…

Curiosity was nagging at me. What if it was true? I always felt that I hadn’t really fit in. But don’t most kids feel that way, growing up? We all want to be ‘special’ and ‘unique’, a princess that’s been hidden away and will be returned to her kingdom one day.  But that wasn’t how the world worked. There were no hidden princesses, no special quality that made me different from anyone else.

Frowning, I moved to put the watch down. I should just leave this, close the wardrobe, and never think or speak of this again.

But… I mean, what’s the harm? If it’s just a watch… If nothing happens, nothing happens…

Biting my lip, I think a moment longer, then turn over the watch and look at the symbols once again. Circles going round and round, lines etched across like some graph, or math equation. And a nagging curiosity.

I took a deep breath, and clicked the watch open. Immediately it starts to glow, to shimmer, and I drop it in surprise. Suddenly the world is too small, too tight, too much – darkness closes in and I gasp, falling to my knees. Everything hurts, everything _burns!_

My vision goes black, and I’m lost to a void of time and space and something entirely new.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter 2 of my pure, un-beta'd, self-indulgent trash fire! :D Poor Tracy's not having a good week.

My head is killing me. I groan softly, curling up into a ball. Everything _hurts_ , like hot pokers are being prodded against every inch of my skin. The only relief is the cool metal floor I’m lying on. Eyes screwed shut, I groan again, willing the pain to go away. I can hear a soft hum, gentle and kind, around me. It’s comforting. I left the hum wash over me, focusing on the cool sensation of metal under me.

After what seems forever, the pain starts to subside. I rolled onto my back, splaying out. “Uughh…” It was like I’d been hit by a train, then the train reversed and hit me a few more times for good measure. The humming helped distract me, at least.

Wait. What was even humming?

Opening my eyes, I look around. Yeah, no, still the only one here. Maybe it was being played over speakers or something? I laid there for several more minutes, just staring at the ceiling. So. That watch definitely did something, but I’m not entirely sure what. Reaching up, I take off my glasses, rubbing my face with my other hand. This was all so confusing – it was making me get another headache, on top of the one I already had.

According to the people on the screen, I was something called a ‘Time Lord’. They were my parents. Biological? They were women, yeah, but in this day and age that doesn’t mean much. Could be trans, could be artificial, could be something else entirely. Because if I was one of these ‘Time Lord’ things, they had implied I wasn’t human. Not human. Can you believe that? I mean, I’d always thought that we couldn’t be the only ones out there, that the universe was too big to be all by ourselves, but… You know, I never thought I’d actually come up against something that might mean that was all true.

So. Time Lords. Apparently they can fake being human? And if that’s true, they faked me being human, to what? Hide me? They did say something about a war… Where? And against what? The only wars I knew of were against other humans.

God I was accepting all this way too easily. I should be calling an ambulance to take me away.

Finally sitting up, I slipped my glasses back on, my other hand moving to my neck to work out a knot…

Hold on.

Why’s my pulse weird? Like, a double. An echo? No, not an echo… something else? Like it was beating twice as fast as it should be. But it wasn’t? I mean, I don’t feel like it’s beating that hard. God this is getting too weird, even for me. Shifting to my knees, I reach over and grab the watch, now open, and push myself up onto my feet.

I nearly fall back over onto my face, catching myself on the pedestal in the center. “Whoa!” Okay, balance was still weird. Good to know. Shaking my head, I pocket the watch and begin to properly look at the pedestal thing. There’s a bunch of switches, levers, buttons, dials. Like it really was some kind of console. Using the console as a crutch, I shuffled around it, looking at it all. I didn’t understand a single thing, but it all looks neat at least. And after one full circle around, I stopped and reached up, touching the screen where the women had appeared.

“So… uh… is this voice activated or something? Do I say ‘computer on’ or something?” I ask aloud, half expecting something to actually happen. It doesn’t. However, a button near your other hand starts to blink, on and off, as if beckoning to you. Curious, you press it, and nearly fall backwards again when the screen crackled to life.

“You’ve opened the watch! Good work, Kara! We’re so proud of you, love.” It’s the first woman again, the one with black hair. “Your body is adjusting to Time Lord biology again, now. It might be a little scary, but you’re a brave girl, I know you can handle it. Now, you grew up as a human, with a human education. There’s a lot you’ve missed, love, but we’ll set that to rights soon. Included in the TARDIS’ banks is all the information on your heritage we have. What it means to be a Time Lord, how to pilot your TARDIS, everything. Look over it all, and once you’re ready, set your TARDIS to activate Programme 28. That’ll take you back home, back to us. And darling, we can’t wait to meet you.” With a click, the screen shut off once more.

I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding. So many questions ran through my mind – what was a TARDIS even? Was it this room? And back home? Back, where they were from? Did I even want to go there? And what about my friends, my family? Did my parents know about this? How would my friends react? Would they think I’m crazy? Hell, I think I’m crazy by this point. And should I show them all this, or keep it hidden?

Whatever. I’m exhausted, everything hurts still, and I’m starving. If this… thing has been here my entire life, it could wait another day. Pushing myself off the console, I unsteadily move back to the door, stopping to grab the knife on my way out. Bracing myself against one door, I pull on the other and peak my head out. Yep. Still the spare bedroom. At least that was the same…

Stumbling out, I close the door behind me. I could hear the kettle whistling – shit, how long had I been in there?! Shuffling as fast as I could, I quickly made it into the kitchen and shut off the stove, moving the kettle off the burner.

Maybe I’d just order take-out.

 

~

 

The next day, I woke up and was determined to prove to myself that yesterday had all been some weird fever-dream or something. Still in my PJs, I ran to the spare bedroom and threw open the door. Yep. The wardrobe was still there. See? Totally just a fever – oh. The door opened inward when I pushed, revealing that same silver-metal room.

I slammed the door shut, spun around, and walked right back out. Nope. Nope nope nope nope. This wasn’t happening. It definitely wasn’t happening. Jogging down the hall, I slid into my bathroom, turning on the faucet, taking off my glasses, and splashing water on my face. I was still seeing things, that had to be it.

Turning off the faucet, I reached for a hand towel and dried my face, looking at myself in the mirror as I did so. I looked like a wreck – hair a mess, circles under my eyes. This whole thing was putting too much stress on my body. Wait… my body. The heartbeats thing. Was… was that still real?

Setting the towel aside, I hesitantly checked my pulse.

A double beat, one echoing the other, pulsed against my wrist, against my neck. “Still… still there.” I laughed weakly, looking at myself again. God, I really was a mess, wasn’t I? I needed some coffee. Maybe at least one of my friends wouldn’t be too hungover and I could meet them somewhere. This apartment was just too confusing right now.

One hour, a phone call, and a change of clothes later, I was sitting at a table in a small coffee shop, sipping on a latte, Heather up at the counter ordering. She grinned at me as she returned, sitting down across from me. “Man, you look like shit. What’s up?” Well, at least she’s direct.

“I… I don’t know.” I couldn’t tell her about the thing in my wardrobe, not directly. She’d think I’m nuts. “I just had a really, really weird dream last night. Really vivid. I was in this dark room – it looked like the spare bedroom in my apartment. And the wardrobe door was open, and inside was this…. This entirely new room! Like it was inside the wardrobe or something. It was shiny and metallic, and had some kind of pedestal in the center. Then these two women appeared on a screen, claiming to be my real parents… I woke up then, but it kind of freaked me out.”

Heather blinked. “You… called me out here… because of a dream?”

“Yes! It just… it freaked me out, okay?” I sighed. This had been a bad idea. I should have known that Heather would react like this.

“No, no it’s okay. Just – kinda sounds like that sci-fi show, doesn’t it? You sure you just didn’t watch too much Doctor Who last night or something?”

“Doctor What?” I’d never heard of the show. Okay, that’s a lie. I’d heard of it, but I’d never paid it much mind, much less watch it.

“Doctor Who! You know, that sci-fi show with the alien and the time traveling box. Wait, you’ve really never seen it? Okay, hold on.” She pulls out her phone and begins typing something. A moment later, she passes her phone to me. “Here.”

It was the Wikipedia page for the show. I scanned over it, not really interested at first, until my eyes caught the words ‘Time Lord’. Wait wait wait – _what?_ Time Lord? That’s – that’s what those two…

God, I really was insane, wasn’t I? I scrolled through the rest of the page, now more intent on really reading it than I was before. “I – wow. That’s really weird, Heather. Maybe I saw something about it last night and just forgot?” A lie that I got out smoother than I thought I would have.

“Probably. Don’t worry about it too much, Trace. And hey, thanks for the coffee, but I gotta get to work. I’ll text you after I’m done, though – maybe we can have a movie night tonight?” She stood, offering me a smile.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that. I’ll see you later, Heather.”

I had to get back home. Maybe if I could see more of this show, I could learn what all this was really about! Grabbing my coffee, I hopped up and dashed out the door, a new sort of excited energy buzzing through me.

There was a logical answer for all this somewhere, I just had to find it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going to have a little mini-arc before Tracy gets to go home! There's still a mystery to be solved here.

I all but ran home, downing my coffee as quickly as I could. If this Doctor Who thing existed as a show, then that meant there was information about it on the internet! Which meant I could find out about everything that these ‘tapes’ included in the room-thing didn’t have. And better yet, it meant I might be able to make sense of why it was in my room, why it was claiming that I was a fictional alien. Rushing into my apartment, I quickly locked the door and threw off my coat and shoes, tossing the coffee cup in the trash before jogging to my room, and my computer.

Honestly, god bless the internet. The holy books of anything and everything one could ever need to know, and host to so many more things I _never_ want to know. And, if this show was any kind of popular, it’d have a fandom-made wikia site, ready to tell me literally everything I need to know.

Logging in, it didn’t take me long to find it – ‘tardis.wikia’. Again, bless the internet. “Wow…” Apparently the show had been on for a long time! Since the ‘60s. Time Lords, The Doctor, Regeneration, TARDISes, Companions… So much information to take in. “Well, better settle in…” I had a lot of reading to do.

And read I did. Link after link after link. Really, the show wasn’t my thing – I wasn’t much of a sci-fi fan, I was more high fantasy – but hey. If this was all true, then knowledge was power, yeah? And in all my reading a few things stuck out to me – apparently, in the show, it _was_ established that alternate/parallel worlds existed, and once they could easily travel between them. So that’s a thing. And, apparently, Time Lords are immune to helium gas – it doesn’t make their voices go funny.

Well. I had a real test I could take now. I mean I could try some of the other things out, but I’m not really keen on holding my breath for five minutes or nearly drowning myself to see if I’m an alien. Helium is easy, and it’s safe. All I needed was to get my hands on a balloon.

One only slightly embarrassing trip to the party store later, I sat in my living room with three bright blue balloons (I considered red, but then I remembered the movie IT and immediately noped out). “God, I can’t believe I’m even considering this.” But what else could it be? It’s almost been a full 24 hours since the… since the ‘incident’, and nothing’s changed. Same weird heart-beat (apparently Time Lords have two hearts?), same weird Narnia-wardrobe. If this was a hallucination, it was a heck of a good one. I mean, I could always been in a hospital somewhere, but if I was, wouldn’t my hallucinations either be calming or terrifying? Not just confusing? I made a dismissive noise – the brain was impossible to figure out!

If my friends saw me doing this, or if my parents saw what was happening, I’d be mortified. But I had to know. I had to. And this… this would give me proof either way. Either my voice goes funny and I’m a human who needs to get herself checked into the nearest mental health facility, or it doesn’t go funny and suddenly everything I thought I ever knew turns out to be wrong.

Slowly, I grab a string and pull a balloon down. It was knotted at the end, so I carefully grabbed the balloon so it wouldn’t escape, then cut a small incision in it. In a matter of seconds I had it pressed to my lips, inhaling the gas like some weird drug addict. And then, when I let the balloon go, watching it fly about the room as the rest of the gas escaped, I spoke.

“Hello?” Oh god. “Hello? My name is Tracy Adams. Oh god.” Normal, totally normal.

I grab another balloon, do it again.

And again, the results are the same. Normal. Totally normal. “Okay, I can handle this. I’m an adult. I can handle this.” Suddenly I felt like an all too small child, lost in a grocery store, my parents nowhere in sight. “I can handle this.” I ignored the fact that my eyes were tearing up, my brain spinning as it tried to reconcile this.

There was another universe out there with aliens, and it was real. And I was one of them. An alien. An honest to god alien. With a spacecraft. With a _time machine._ Well, I suppose if I wanted proof, what better way than to, well, try it out? Maybe? I could be back at the same time, after all. If I could get it to work, anyways. Maybe I should have watched those tapes after all.

Wait. They’d said something about a program 28? Something to take me back there, or something. Maybe it was on auto-pilot? Did the thing even have auto-pilot? But maybe, if I could make it take me there… I could get someone to help me come back before too long.

Yeah, that could work.

…I still can’t believe I’m just going along with this.

If I was going to do this, I need to prepare. Watch those tapes, pack, stuff as much as I can into that room in preparation. Even if it doesn’t work, better safe than sorry. The only blessing is that I live alone, so if I end up making a fool of myself, no one will know.

I stand up from the couch I had been seated on and make my way down the hall to the spare bedroom. Pausing at the door, I take a deep breath, and open the door. There it was – the wardrobe. The TARDIS. God that sounded weird, even just in my head. Approaching it, I touched the wooden exterior once again. Warm, familiar. Like a blanket fresh out of the dryer on a wet, cold day. Or a hug as a child after you woke up from a nameless nightmare. Comforting, in a word. And now I had a better idea as to why – it was mildly telepathic, like Time Lords. That’s why it always weirded me out as a kid, I think. It was trying to reach out to me. A part of me scoffs, thinking I’m still crazy.

But I’ve made my choice. Until proven otherwise, I’m going to accept this. Time to ride the crazy train all the way to the station, and beyond.

I open the door, and manage a small smile as the room greets me. “TARDIS?” There’s a series of little beeps that greet me. “Hi. I, uh. So I’ve decided to accept all this crazy and just go for it? But I want to prepare because we do anything? Can. Uh. Can you show me where those tapes are?” Another beep, then lights begin to gently pulse on the floor, leading around the console and down a set of stairs.

A hallway? “Just… just how big are you?” Bells answer me, like laughter. “Okay then, let’s go on an adventure then.” And down the hall I go, following the little lights and trusting a sentient machine to guide me.

We pass dozens of rooms. A kitchen, dining room, bedrooms (I asked the TARDIS to claim the biggest one for me, then to show me the way there later), a lab of some kind – full of things I’d never seen before, and smart enough not to touch, a library (so many books! Hundreds upon hundreds of them), even a pool! It seems to go on forever.

Currently standing at the entrance to some kind of botanical garden, I can’t help but stare. “God, this… it’s beautiful.” A hum from around me, the TARDIS answering me proudly. “Thank you for showing me. I really do need those tapes, though. Could we maybe speed this up?” Bells, again. And then the lights were moving, and I was once again following along. Around a corner, through a door, across an intersection and into a new room.

A bedroom. But not like the others. No. This wasn’t even really a real bedroom… “A nursery?” A crib against one wall, baby toys scattered around the floor. And an eerie familiarity. “Wait, a nursery… was this mine?” I stepped in, careful of the toys. They were different from baby toys on Earth, but still recognizable. I could see a changing table, a rocking chair, and, on the far wall, a bookshelf with a series of books. “Books? I thought I was looking for tapes?” No answer from the TARDIS.

Ah well. Might as well take a look. Crossing the room, I looked at the shelf, reading the covers. “Time Lords for Time Tots” ; “Your TARDIS and You” ; “Every Gallifreyan Child's Pop-Up Book of Nasty Creatures From Other Dimensions” – a small library of Time Lord children’s books. And a white, glowing, cube bookend. Curious, I touched it, shrinking back when a voice began to speak. Was it in the TARDIS, or in my mind? I couldn’t tell.

“Oh, darling, you found it! This was nursery, back when we first sent you there. Those books should help get you started. And once you’re finished,” the voice paused, a section of nursery wall sliding away and a box sliding out, “you can start on the tapes! Lectures from the Academy! Everything you’ll ever need to know to get back home, and more. We love you darling, and we’ll see you soon.” The voice, I belated realized it was one of the two from the screen, faded out, leaving me alone once again.

Well then. I pick up a book at random and sit in the rocking chair. Guess I had more reading to do today.

The books were fascinating, even just as children’s books. Such a different perspective from the wikia – which I had only really skimmed – and much more interesting. It was getting late, though, and I needed to make something to eat. So, tucking the last book under my arm (the one about ‘Nasty Creatures’), I followed the lights back out into the main room – which I knew now was the console room.

There was something new waiting for me on the console. Sitting on an empty panel sat a sort of bracer… cuff… wrist guard thing. Shiny and metallic, with lots of little buttons and dials on it. Wait… I had read something about this – sonic devices? Time Lord Swiss Army Knives, basically. And they can come in a multitude of shapes and sizes.

Had the TARDIS made me a Sonic Cuff? Jogging over to the console, I picked up the cuff, looking it over before slipping it on. There was a whirring, the metal shifting and closing up, making a perfect fit around my wrist and arm. “Huh…” Well, I never had to worry about losing it, yeah? With that sorted, I exited the TARDIS and the spare bedroom.

A loud thudding made me jump – I quickly realized someone was at my door, knocking rather loudly! I ran over to my door and opened it to find Kathy, one of my friends, standing there, red-faced and panicked. “Heather’s been kidnapped!”

What?

“ _What?”_


	4. Chapter 4

Okay okay okay _what?_ “Kathy?! Please tell me you called the police!” Why would she come here instead of the police?!

“Of course I called the police!” She was practically shaking, face pale and in shock.

“Hey, Kathy? Why… why don’t you come in? I can make some tea. Heather needs up clear-headed and not panicky, yeah?” I managed out, stepping aside the door to let her in. Kathy nodded, following my suggestion. Taking off her jacket, she hung it up on the coat rack, a piece of paper falling out of her pocket in the process.

Bending down, I picked it up, intending to hand it over to Kathy. But a word caught my eye, and after a quick scan of the note, I nearly passed out then and there.

My hearts were beating a mile a minute. This wasn’t good…“Here, why don’t get started on the tea – you remember where it all is?” I said, watching my friend. A nod. “Good. I’ll, uh, I’ll be right back. Gotta get something out of the bedroom.” Technically not a lie!

With that settled, I darted down the hall to the spare bedroom and slipped inside, locking the door behind me. I glanced at the note, crumpled again in my hand, and sighed. An address, and a threat -  ‘bring us the Time Lady or your friend dies’. Kind of cliché, honestly, but still… terrifying. Even worse still that they…they knew, somehow. And somehow, they knew Heather was important to me. Had they been watching me? How did they even know about… all this?

I could feel my heart – hearts – racing, my entire body shaking. Okay. It was going to be okay. Kathy had called the police, they’d take care of it, right?

But… but if this was all related to, well, me, and the show? Maybe it was dangerous for the police? But they wouldn’t know that… Maybe I should wait for the police. If my name was mentioned in the demands, maybe the police would come by? They had to. On the other hand, if this was because of the whole ‘Time Lord’ thing, then maybe it would be best to try and not get anyone else involved?

What am I thinking? I don’t even know who these people are! They could be incredibly dangerous! And what am I? A foreign exchange Master’s student! Who works part time at a book store! I turn back around and exit the room. I should just wait for the police. Yeah. The police will take care of it.

I find Kathy in the kitchen, pouring the tea. When she looks up, she manages to give me a tentative smile, but even I can see it’s forced. “Hey, Kathy… who gave you this?” I hold up the crumpled note.

“I dunno, just some bloke. Said it was important. I think it’s just gibberish.” Kathy rounds the kitchen island, handing me a mug.

“Just some guy? You do know how weird that sounds, yeah? I mean, ‘some guy’ doesn’t just come up and give you a _ransom note_ without you questioning it!”

“I… I don’t know. Like I said, it was just some bloke. I mean it’s probably not related to Heather anyways – Time Lord’s aren’t real.” I wasn’t about to correct her. I realized that Kathy knowing anything would be dangerous – heck, just being around me could be dangerous. Because that’s the only reason I can think why Heather was taken. We’d met up shortly after all this started.

Man, I really don’t want to, but I’m starting to think the only way to deal with this would be to do so myself. If they’re like something out of a sci-fi show, then it’d be useless for the police to try. They’d probably blast them with laser guns or something. …Did they have laser weapons in Doctor Who? Probably. I don’t actually know. I only skimmed the wiki, okay?

Sighing, I set the mug down on the counter. “Hey Kathy, I don’t know what’s up with you, but I’m going to go to the police station to let them know about this, alright? You can stay here if you want, but this is just too weird to me.”

“I mean, if you really think it’s related, go right ahead. I think I might just pop on home, though.” Tea abandoned, she walked with me to the door, grabbing her coat. Saying our good-byes, I watched as she left. That whole interaction had been weird. Chalking it up to shock and stress, I hurried off the other way, pulling out my phone and punching in the address on the paper. The map pulled up, telling me it was only a few blocks away. Good. I had no idea what I’d do when I got there, but I had to do something.

But first… Switching off the map, I called up emergency services (still weird calling a number other than 911). I quickly told the operator that I had it on good authority that a kidnapping victim was being held at the location – an old warehouse – and that I could hear screaming coming inside. Adding that I was heading in (to make sure they actually sent someone), I quickly ended the call. There. Now if something happened they’d at least know where to start looking.

Rounding the corner, I slid to a stop in front of the chain-link fence that surrounded the property. The warehouse was tall and imposing, creaking metal echoing off the hollow interior and out onto the street. On the gate, a giant padlock. I stared up at the gate, the impossibly tall fence. There was no way I was climbing… Wait

I jogged away from the warehouse, down to the bus-stop. Sitting down on the bench, I pulled out my phone and quickly googled ‘sonic doctor who’. I remembered reading that the sonic – in my case, my cuff-thing – can do a lot of stuff, but it’s most famous was…

“Ah-ha!” I grinned. There it was! The sonic was famous for being able to unlock anything that wasn’t dead-bolted (or wooden). Only one problem. I have no idea how to work this thing. Stuffing my phone in my pocket, I roll my cardigan sleeve up and properly look at the cuff. Twisting my arm slightly, I looked at the buttons and dials dotting the device, looking almost like gems instead of a piece of technology.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised when words began to float above each little knob, like something out of an augmented reality game. Labels, instructions on how to use it. Was it telepathic, or just connected to my brain or something? Regardless, I knew the ‘unlock everything’ button now, so I stood back up and walked to the gate once more, shaking my arm so the cardigan sleeve fell back over the device, hiding it.

The gates still seemed to stretch on forever as I looked up at them. I could feel my hearts pounding, nerves making me want to shake. But, I had to act like I belonged there. If you act like you belong there, no one will question you. Usually. Lifting my arm, I moved it so it looked like I was checking a wrist watch and pushed the button. There was a whirr, then a click, and I watched in amazement as the padlock just… unlocked. “…Woah.” Some part of me still didn’t expect that to work. Well, nothing to do but follow through with this whole stupid idea. Hopefully the police would be closing in soon, otherwise I was definitely boned.

Stepping forward, I unlatched the gate and slipped inside, dropping the padlock to the ground.

The warehouse yard was deserted. From what I can see, this had been an industrial center once, with all the metal lying around. Better be careful… A nail through the foot would be awful. Shaking that thought from my mind, I kept to the shadows, moving along the building until I found a window I could peek into.

It was a large, mostly-empty room, the only things inside being a handful of boxes stacked up. But… Along the opposite edge, I could make out some shapes. People shaped shapes. The kidnappers? Just how cliché were they? And what’d they expect me to do, anyways? Try and sneak in? Or be all big and brash and American about it? Glancing around, I noticed a window not too far away from where they stood. That would work.

Crouching back down, I slowly made my way around the building. Down the street, I could hear police sirens. _Perfect!_ At this point I didn’t even care if they thought I was one of them. As far as I knew, these were just people, and if they were… like me, then it wasn’t like they had super powers.

I realized, belatedly, that if they were Time Lords, they must be desperate. Why go after a baby Time Lord? Unless they didn’t have something they needed – a TARDIS, maybe? That’s my theory, anyways. Big bads wants the TARDIS so they can go home and, I don’t know, terrorize the universe or something. Probably using Heather as leverage. ‘Give us what we want or we kill your friend’ and all that bull.

I really do watch too much trash on Netflix, don’t I?

Rounding the last corner, I carefully peaked back up, watching. I could hear them talking, but I couldn’t make out the words. On the other side of the building, the sound of sirens got louder, the sound of brakes and doors opening and closing. I grinned – yes! Police were here! I started to pry open the window – maybe I could distract them while the police – wait.

There was some shimmering from the three that were standing, wavy lines making my eyes go cross, then – poof! Gone! Vanished! “…What?” What… what was that? They had left one behind – someone… kneeling? Sitting? Wait – shit – that was Heather!

Well. At least she was safe? And whoever they were, they were gone. Somewhere.

I quickly decided it wasn’t my problem anymore because if they _were_ Time Lords there’s no way I’d be able to handle one, much less three. They’d either show up again, or they wouldn’t. No use in worrying about it.

With a sigh I turned around and slid down the wall, sitting in the dirt outside an abandoned warehouse. Faintly I could hear the police entering the building, and the sounds of Heather being rescued. Well. At least there was that – I didn’t have to worry about her for now.

It was almost kind of funny. When I had charged out here, I had sort of expected some kind of epic showdown, some sort of giant reckoning. A climactic battle with the bad guys. But that wasn’t always real life. Sometimes they just… get away. Or you chicken out. Or both. Despite everything, I am still very much human at heart. The idea of actually going in there, confronting them? Absolutely terrifying. I’m not a hero, I’m just a student. A 20-something from America, all brash and no backup.

And right now, all I wanted to do was curl with up a blanket and hide away for a while. This was all too much, and it was finally catching up with me.

The sound of footsteps broke me out of my daze, and I quickly scrambled up and away, thankful that there was a second gate on the back end of the lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not everything goes out with a bang. More often than not, it goes out silently, like it had never been there. And don't think this is the last time we'll see The Mysterious Trio.
> 
> In other news, I'll probably be doing a weekly update schedule? My own Master's program is starting back up in a couple of weeks, so I need to leave time for that.


	5. Chapter 5

I all but fell onto my couch after getting home, shoes and all. I was exhausted. Mentally, physically, emotionally. All I wanted was to sleep and to watch some nonsense trash until my brain went numb. Maybe throw in a giant bowl of ice cream in there too. Really, I knew that the police would likely be coming by soon, either to let me know that Heather was okay, or to ask me some questions since it had been my cell that had called them to that warehouse. I half expected for the doorbell to ring and for those three figures from the warehouse to be on the other side.

But it was quiet. I knew they couldn’t have given up, that was too easy. And why did they poof when the police showed up? Maybe they really couldn’t fight back, or they had some giant secret they needed to protect. Maybe they weren’t even Time Lords. Maybe they were robots. Robots were a thing in Doctor Who, weren’t they? They had to be. What’s sci-fi without robots? Or aliens. Well, other aliens. Maybe they were shapeshifting blob people. Of course that raised the question as to how they got here – then again, I was asking that same question of myself.

Maybe I was like. Time Lord Superman. Jettisoned into space in a last ditch hope to save a species. Or maybe my parents secretly hated me. Or there’s a prophecy about me, and I’m destined to end the world or something. Or save it. One of the two. Maybe I’m some kind of sleeper agent, and once someone says the magic word the programming will activate and I’ll go hostile.

There was an infinite amount of answers to the question as to why I was here, but I didn’t know where to start as to why the Mystery People were here too. Maybe this world was an elaborate prison and I had the only way out. Or they were actually allies who had a really weird way of getting my attention. The options are endless, really.

Rolling over so I was facing up, I stared at the ceiling of my apartment. I should go down to the police station, try to come up with some explanation for what I saw. I should go check on Heather, make sure she’s not… well, too traumatized. They probably have her in a hospital right now. Heck, I should probably check into a hospital. Well. Maybe not. The whole hearts thing might freak some people out.

Truthfully, as I stared up to the white, popcorn ceiling of my apartment, I felt numb. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if any of this was actually real. Had I gone insane? Was I in some weird coma dream? I honestly couldn’t tell. I knew it would be easier on me if I just accepted all this, but… I just. It went against everything I ever thought was real. Finding out aliens were real, that you were an alien, and that some other weird alien things were after you all in the span of less than a week would leave anyone feeling lost and confused. All I wanted was for everything to go back to normal, was that too much to ask?

As if on clichéd cue, I heard heavy footsteps and a surprised yelp, then a scream. All I could do was sigh, pushing myself up and off the couch. It was wild how quickly you could go numb to weird stuff – I could emotionally process when things weren’t hectic. I briefly wondered if there were therapists that specialized in weird delusions, because if I survive this that’s probably how I’d –

The door to my apartment flung open, nearly torn off its hinges from the force. With a shriek I fell off the couch, watching in horror as silver robot-people began to march in. Robots! They were robots! Oh god was that a gun? “Scanning… Non-human confirmed.” A mechanical voice said, and I could feel robotic eyes on me as I scrambled up.

“Yep! That’s. Uh. That’s me!” Oh god what am I doing. “The non-human! How can I help you fine gentlemen today?” I laughed, definitely feeling delirious.

My words, at least, seemed to confuse them. “You will take us to your TARDIS, then submit to being upgraded.” Upgraded?! UPGRADED?! Like, turned a robot?! I don’t think so!

I laughed again – wow was my voice really that high? “Oh right, sure, uh. Yeah! I totally know what you’re talking about. Definitely.” Crap crap crap crap _crap_! I started giggling stupidly, the sound grating on my own ears. “Just. Uh. Give me a moment! Gotta go get some shoes on, then I’ll show where I’ve got it stored. Definitely!” Please don’t notice I’m already wearing shoes.

Backing away from the group of robo-men, I turned and dashed down the hall, already hearing their footsteps following me, the robotic voice demanding that I stop. Throwing the door to the spare bedroom open, I skidded to a stop and dashed in, leaving the door wide open behind me.

TARDIS! TARDIS was safe! …Right? Please. Please be safe.

Well, either way, my choice was made and now it was either go into the TARDIS or be taken by robo-dudes after handing them the TARDIS to be assimilated. So I threw open the doors to the TARDIS and scrambled inside, slamming the doors shut behind me, hearing a loud thud against them not a moment later.

Okay!

TARDIS! Spaceship! Get me out of here!

Only one problem. _I have no idea how to fly a TARDIS._

Wait.

“PROGRAM 28 ACTIVATE PROGRAM 28!” Anywhere was better than here! Please work! Please please please – “Ah!” With a groan, the entire room began to rumble and I was tossed sideways, slamming into the wall and crumpling to the ground in a heap. Vision swimming, I tried to stand back up, leaning against the wall for support, only to have the TARDIS lurch again, tossing me about like a rag doll.

Screaming as I was flung about, there was a sharp crack as my head collided with something before the world went black.

~

Faintly I could hear a siren going off. The police…? An ambulance…? Everything was too groggy to tell – every inch of me screamed in pain, like I’d been hit by a truck. Again. Groaning, I opened my eyes slowly, noticing that it was really dark now. Had the power gone off? I’ll need to call the landlord – oh

Right.

TARDIS.

Program 28. Robo-dudes.

Something happened. What, I have no idea. But now the TARDIS’ power was out. Or at least the lights were out. Did we pop a sci-fi circuit breaker or something? Was that a thing? I continued to stare up, listening to the sirens. As I managed to begin to focus, I realized that the sirens were probably coming from the TARDIS itself. Doesn’t surprise me. I probably broke it. And had no idea how to repair it. I’m pretty sure my ‘parents’ didn’t expect me to break it.

Speaking of. I should probably get up and try and figure out where this thing took me. I needed to call my parents back in the States, let them know some weirdness was going on. Slowly I pushed myself into a seated position, stretching my arms and popping my back in the process. Running a hand over my face and through my stupidly curly hair, I happily noted that I wasn’t bleeding or anything. I was tender, and sore, and probably would be for a while, but at least nothing had gone splat during… whatever that was.

There was more than a few questions running through my mind, but I quickly shoved them under the metaphorical bed and locked them away. My head’s killing me, and I’m already too confused to begin to process everything that’s happened. So with some groaning and grunting I managed to pull myself to my feet to begin to inspect the damage.

At first glance, things looked, well, fried. Smoking and all that. Faintly I could see a light here or there blinking on and off – maybe a ‘check engine’ light of some kind? But other than that, I might as well have been looking at a manual written in Chinese or something. I hadn’t the foggiest idea where to start, much less what I could do to fix it. The TARDIS was toast, probably. Even if I knew what was wrong, it wasn’t like I had the skills or parts to actually do repairs. I didn’t even do repairs on my own car! I could change a tire if it was an emergency, sure, and I knew the principles behind changing oil (never actually done it), but that was about it.

Well, there was nothing that could be done. Might as well open the door and see where I ended up (I still can’t believe that’s a phrase that I take seriously). The sirens started to subside as I moved about, slowly limping my way to the door. I paused – the door seemed… different. Before it had looked like wardrobe doors, even from the inside, but now it matched the rest of the interior of the TARDIS? Like a smooth piece of wall. The only way I even knew it was the door was because of a sign above the door that read EXIT. Hesitantly I reached out and touched the wall, jumping (or the limping equivalent) when it hissed and slowly swung inward, light filtering in from outside.

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I let out a sigh of relief when no robo-men came storming in. Well, at least I lost them. Shuffling to the exit, I carefully peaked outside.

It was a park. With trees, and shrubs, and a little pond down the way. “…What?” Looking around, I quickly realized the TARDIS didn’t look like a wardrobe anymore. Now, it was a tree. Because of course it was. Oddly enough, the people walking by didn’t seem to even notice me, or if they did they quickly looked away. “I thought this was supposed to take me to an alien planet?” I mean, I’m not complaining. Earth makes it easier to get back home. But still.

Stepping out, the door closed gently behind me, melding perfectly with the rest of the tree. Man if only that had been the weirdest thing I’d seen all week. Me from a week ago would be freaked and delighted at that, demanding to know how it was done. But a lot changes in a week.

Leaning against the tree-TARDIS, I watched as people went about their day. A couple of kids were playing on a playground, an old couple was feeding the ducks, joggers were jogging by and giving me weird looks.

Right.

I probably look like a hot mess right now. I should probably consider myself lucky if all my hair’s still in its ponytail next time I check. Sighing, I figure I should probably go inside. Maybe I can find a way to turn on the lights and find a place to clean up. Opening the doors once more, I slip into the darkness of the TARDIS and let it close behind me.

Two hours and a lot of cursing later, I found something close to lights – emergency lights. And lamps. No way to turn the power back on yet, though. On the bright side, I did find a bathroom! Even if I did look as awful as I felt, it was nice to be able to clean up a little.

I’m sitting in the console room, leaning up against the wall and surrounded by little lanterns and lights, trying to get my phone to work. For whatever reason, it lost service completely, as if the towers just up and poofed on me. Not even the ‘make things more’ buttons on the sonic worked. All _that_ managed was a mosquito tone that had me dropping my phone and covering my ears. So now I sit here, staring at my phone, willing to start working, to do anything. I briefly considered going outside to see if that helped, but then I remembered the robo-dudes and thought better of it.

A sudden pounding at the door made me drop my phone again, the device clattering to the floor as I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Doctor? Doctor! Open up!” A male voice calls out from outside, the insistent pounding continuing. Tempting as it was to go further into the TARDIS and ignore the voice, it didn’t sound robotic… And kind of like it needed help. Frowning, I reluctantly got up and walked to the door, pulling it open just a crack.

“…John Barrowman?” What was the dude from _Arrow_ doing out here?


End file.
